Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 12:39:13 EST Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Rick Sussman Subject: Re: Red-necked Grebes--Black Hills MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi all, I just returned from birding Black Hill Regional Park (with Tom Marko and Mike Moffett) where we counted at least 12 Red-necked Grebes (though there certainly could have been as many as 18). They were scattered all over the lake, in open spots near the visitor center, and from the bridge on both sides of Rt. 121. Two were actively fishing very close to the pull-off near the bridge, being harassed by gulls to give up their fish. There were also good numbers of both Pied-billed and Horned Grebes as well, so a grebe hat-trick is possible for those interested. Also seen were: a handful of Common Goldeneyes, a pair of Northern Pintails (near the Visitor Center, small numbers of Tundra Swans, Canvasbacks, Ring-necked Ducks, Hooded and Common Mergansers, Ruddy Ducks and Buffleheads, and lots of Black Ducks, Mallards and Canada Geese. Birding the gravel road near the Park Police headquarters we found White-crowned and Fox Sparrows, a single singing Rusty Blackbird with a small group of singing Red-winged Blackbirds, and lots of Robins and Cedar Waxwings. Flyover hawks seen were a single Red-tailed and an adult Coopers Hawk over the parking lot by the visitor center as we left. Jim Green also reported seeing a Northern Harrier in the park this morning (as well as E. Bluebirds and Yellow-rumped Warblers, which we missed). Come on spring!! Rick Sussman Ashton,MD warblerick@aol.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================